Lost in Translation
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
For the most part, Ballet Hispanico is a good-time company. You go there to see sleek, gorgeous dancers blending modern, ballroom, and ballet in fizzy cocktails that go down easy, and Tina Ramirez, the troupe’s artistic director, makes sure you’re not disappointed.
But Ms. Ramirez also commissions more sober modern-dance pieces like “Corazón al Andaluz,” a work by the Catalan choreographer Ramón Oller now having its world premiere at the Joyce.”Corazón” comes with abundant explanatory notes. It was inspired by Washington Irving’s “Tales of the Alhambra.” Its movie-like score (by Rosa Zaragoza, Luis Delgado, and Luis Paniagua) has Islamic, Jewish, and Christian accents, reflecting its setting: A postulated era in Spain (“the 8th through the 14th centuries”) when “Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived side by side, each culture enriched by a familiarity and engagement with the other.”
What “Corazón” actually looks like, though, is another matter. Four belly dancers and two teams of men dance in a swirl of sparkling veils and colorful fabrics. Carpets line the perimeter of the stage — suggesting, I suppose, the Alhambra. There are moments laden with symbolism, as when each of the three men in yellow embraces his counterpart in turquoise before backing away. But the symbolism is hard to follow. What does it mean when a man slaps the ubiquitous birdlike girl called Alma (“soul”)? Why are all these sinuous women swiveling their hips at both sets of men? What was intended by the homoerotic duet? By the removal of the men’s flowing shirts?
Sometimes (though rarely) it’s enough just to enjoy Mr. Oller’s beautiful images on these equally lovely dancers: Alma (Candice Monét McCall) held aloft by the men, smoothly undulating her entire body in the air as they carry her in circles. More often, though, Mr. Oller’s rambling, iterative choreography feels frustrating. After stressing the importance of his narrative, he refuses to let the audience in on it.
Since 1994, Mr. Oller has made six dances for Ballet Hispanico, and by now it’s clear that he’s better at creating atmospheres than at telling stories. But even as an atmosphere,”Corazón al Andaluz” is thin. Its flimsy, brightly-colored costumes and generic carpets suggest a Disney version of the Alhambra.
With “Corazón” as its heavy second half, Saturday’s matinee at the Joyce was a lopsided one. It opened with a piece called “Features II” that was exactly what it sounded like — an entertaining suite of vignettes from past hits, strung together end on end.
A snippet from Graciela Daniele’s “Cada Noche … Tango” stood in stark contrast to the vagaries of “Corazón.” Within the first 30 seconds, anyone could identify the prostitute and the two brothers toying with her in a back room in a Buenos Aires brothel. “Cada Noche” traded in types — a slow, acrid Piazzolla tango, a girl in garters, shirtless men in suspenders, and combative, sexual movement.
This type of dancing may well be Ballet Hispanico’s strongest suit, and accordingly, Ms. Ramirez hires a lot of crossover choreographers. Ann Reinking’s Fosse-tinged “Ritmo y Ruido” is in this season’s lineup, and Willie Rosario, a protégé of Ms. Daniele’s, created last spring’s “Palladium Nights,” which is back this season as the streamlined “Palladium Suite.”
Of course, it’s as hard to make riveting dances in a Broadway mold as it is to create good new modern dances. Ballet Hispanico’s mainstream repertory has plenty of sizzle and hard-earned finesse, but at times it veers into cliché. The company’s prodigious talents would be ideal raw material for this generation’s answer to Fosse or Jerome Robbins — or for a modern-dance choreographer with an incisive vision. There is an enormous potential here that is barely hinted at in “Corazón al Andaluz.”
Until November 12 (175 Eighth Ave. at 19th Street, 212-242-0800).